Sounds of the Sea: Destination Wedding

Let's take a moment to image a beautiful beach, an arch in the sand...barefoot bride walking down an aisle of sand. Sounds amazing, right? Well, this could be your wedding! Destination weddings are still a huge trend - and why not? Honeymoon and wedding, all in one! We have the perfect gowns for destination weddings; soft flowing Chiffon blend perfectly with a beach setting!

We are in love with the stones on style 105 from the Bonny Collection. The milky color of the stones fit into a shell-like concept and the iridescent beading would pick up on blue hues of the ocean

This one shoulder chiffon gown would be perfect for a destination wedding! Style 048 from the Bonny Classic Collection has a dramatic, shirred waist and of course just enough detail with the jeweled flower.

We didn't forget your beautiful moms and maids! Check out this inspiration board we created just for you! Social occasion wear styles 7030 (top) and style 7102 (bottom).

The gorgeous rhinestone bracelet is $39.95

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Mystique Prom Style 3153

May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!

A New Take on an Old Trend: Ruffles

We love the romantic ruffle trend that continues to sweep you away! There is something ultra feminine about them and they fit right in with a romantic wedding theme. 

The Horizontal Ruffle

Essence Styles 8102 (L) and 8105 (R)

Ruffled skirts add shape that creates a wider silhouettes - this type of dress would be perfect for the tall, thin figures. Horizontal lines tend to make petite brides smaller and shorter and these types of ruffled skirts tend to make the curvy bride appear wider. 

The Vertical Ruffle

Bonny Style 104

Vertical ruffles stream down the length of a skirt to create long wavy lines. This shape is perfect for pair shapes and petite brides because it creates an illusion of length

Bonny Bridal UK Wins Prestigious Award for the Unforgettable Collection

This year’s Awards programme attracted a higher-than-ever number of entries in its 16 categories that cover both retailer and supplier awards, as well as the key student designer award that itself pulled in more than 300 entries from young hopefuls across the country. On-schedule deliveries, customer service and stockist support are part of the equation in shortlisting for the supplier awards, while shop design, marketing and promotion, supplier support and meeting agreed payment terms will influence entries in the retailer categories. This year, votes for The Bridal Designer of the Year title were cast by visitors at the London and Birmingham National Wedding Shows in the autumn as were votes for the hotly-contended Wedding Dress of the Year award. In some categories, because the standard of entries was so high, we have for the first time increased the number of finalists. Bonny Bridal was nominated in the Best Plus-size Collection along with:

Callista

Sincerity Plus

Sonsie by Veromia

Special Day

White Rose

Over the years, the Bridal Buyer Awards have grown in stature and are widely-acknowledged as the most important and authoritative awards in the industry today. Judged by panels of experts, entries are meticulously assessed - to reach the shortlist entrants must meet rigid criteria; to become a finalist is a considerable achievement. 

In a glitzy award ceremony in Harrogate this week, Bonny Bridal, scooped up the Best Plus-size Collection Award. A company spokesperson said: “We are over the moon to win this award! Design, style and fit are absolutely important to us when we create gowns for this very important collection. We make sure that the brides who try on and eventually purchase an Unforgettable wedding gown know that they are getting a gown that is made just for the curvy shape of a woman. Winning this award just shows you that our hard work is paying off! We are in touch with our brides - and we love making them feel like they are the most beautiful bride on their big day! We share this award with all our partner stores who have gowns for plus size brides to try on and with all our Unforgettable brides....because they are the big winners! Thank you all so very much for this prestigious award. We promise to work even harder this coming year for you!"

Party Time! Mardi Gras 2011

Mardi Gras is music, parades, picnics, floats, majestic balls... and pretty much just one big holiday in New Orleans!  Everyone is wearing purple, green, and gold! To honor this party, we created this inspiring design board:

The following styles were used for this board (from left to right):
Style 6015 from the Crown Collection
Style 6105 from the Crown Collection
Style 7013 from our Social Occasion Collection

When Should I Order My Gown?

Weddings are full of timelines. What exactly is a timeline? It's basically a schedule. People should never lose sight of what the wedding is about, as a whole, but, to pull off this huge celebration, everything is broken down into timelines. And EVERYONE involved in a wedding has a timeline! How far out to book the church, which pastors are available, when do you start looking for a reception venue, when can all the people from out of state come, where are they going to stay, book a florist, plan the honeymoon (sheesh...right now sounds like we all need a break - right?) Oh no no...you have to order THE gown! Oh, here we go. Our most asked question: When should I order my gown? Well, we are going to give you this answer! And, because you are on a timeline right now, we will try our best to be brief.... ha.ha.

You walk into a bridal salon, you try on the dress and everyone agrees "It's the one!" The sales lady says, "Great! Let's get that order placed today." You are asking yourself, "Why, we have so much time!" But do you? Typically, a special order gown (meaning, you are not getting a dress that 100 other brides tried on, that has been hanging in their store for months and months and hopefully hasn't been transported from store-to-store :::cough David's::::). Your special order gown typically would take 12 weeks (that's 3 months) to get from our factory to the store. The 12 week time period given to stores is an ESTIMATE! Because of other people's timeline things can go haywire too. See? Everyone has a timeline! So, let's just keep at our 12 week timeline - because the rush timeline is another post! Your gown could ship by air or by boat...it is traveling a long way to make it to you. It gets here and then it has to go through customs. Have you ever gone through customs? Well, then you understand THAT timeline. Once it is released from customs, it heads over to a trucking company that is going to deliver it to us, on...you guessed it....their timeline! Now that it is in our procession...it's on our timeline. We already know what YOUR timeline is so we make sure it is inspected here, logged into our inventory and then packaged to head off to your store. Typically, it is going to go via ground method and just for fun and giggles we are going to say you live on the East Coast (because we are on the West). Have you ever driven cross country? Wait, let me rephrase that - have you ever driven cross country in a big truck going about 40 miles an hour hauling 1000's of pounds of packages? No? Me either. I am just assuming they can travel at about 40 miles an hour....I know they aren't going 75 mph! So, THEIR timeline is 7 - 10 days to get from our location to your store. Your beautiful dress arrives but she has to be unpacked, fluffed (poor thing has been scrunched in a box for a long time now!) and steamed out to perfection before you get to see her. Now, we are back to the stores timeline. If you have never steamed a dress ooohh booyyy. Let me tell you, it is HARD and takes a LONG time! Whew! Are you already exhausted? I am. But...we're not done!! Oh, no, no, no! Now your dress needs alterations for a perfect fit! Your FIRST FITTING will be to pin it and make it right just for you. Your SECOND FITTING will be able to make sure that everything from the first fitting was done (and is perfect) so hopefully your second fitting is your last fitting but, sometimes you may need a THIRD and FINAL fitting! Whew....ok seriously. COFFEE??

Now, times have changed a bit. I kept using the word "typically" when I talked about a 12 week process. That is no longer the case today. Global issues effect everyone - not just in our country - in ALL countries. There are many reasons for the change in timelines, honestly everyone's timeline has changed! Airlines started letting less packages on board (because of rising fuel costs), the ships were getting too much cargo from what the airlines were not taking and there are lot's of other reasons! Today, our ESTIMATED ship times from order date to store is more like 14 weeks but, to be honest we are comfortable with at least 16 weeks! There is still a rush service.


We hope that by creating this very important post you will understand now, why when you visit a salon and they tell you it's best to order now....it's the truth! You should order AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! You should give yourself the time to enjoy your dress, get your alterations, have fun trying on veils and jewels with her! Trust us, you will be thanking yourself later when you do not have to start stressing out wondering, "Where is my dress?!" If you plan ahead in your timeline, your dress will be here in plenty of time - safe and sound - breathing in her garment bag (all fluffed and pressed!) just waiting for you to slip in and walk down the aisle! :)


So, the moral of this long post? Just remember two things: Our most asked question: "When should I order my gown?" and our second most asked question: "Where is my dress?!" If you listen to our answer on the first....you won't ever have to ask the second!! ;)

Real Brides - Destiny

Meet Destiny....and her new husband Willie! 

Destiny and Willie were married February 20, 2011!! Destiny contacted us on Facebook and we got to know her a little - and we enjoyed reading about her engagement (Willie...you did a great job!!). We are still waiting to hear about her wedding but, we couldn't wait to share a photo will all our friends! Destiny chose Bliss style 2101 as her wedding dress and we think she rocked that dress out!!! Congratulations you two! We can't wait to see the rest of your wedding pics and read about your wedding on our Bonny Brides page!

Bliss Style 2101

Sneak Peek - Fall 2011

Click on the image below to get a complete sneak peek!

Southern California Brides: Save The Date

One of our local retail partners, Ann's Classic Affairs, is having a very special bridal event on March 19, 2011 from 10am - 2pm. We will be on hand to assist the live fashion show, answer questions and offer a sneak peek at our Fall 2011 Collection. Any bride placing an order at the event will receive a FREE veil from Ann's Classic Affairs. 

We hope all our Southern California friends will come out and meet us! We look forward to hearing your feedback...and of course having you be the first to view our new collection! 

RSVP to the event: 

Ann's Classic Affairs

1622 Illinois Avenue, Suite 14

Perris, CA 92570

951-566-7005

Dresses we would like to see on the Red Carpet!

The 83rd Academy Awards will be airing in 4 days. We are not immune to the hype! We tune in to see not only which actors win the top awards but, we are fashion addicts too! We have our own top picks for what we would dress the stars in! 

Natalie Portman - pregnant and beautiful. She isn't shy about showing off her baby bump! She is so beautiful and glowing! A red hot mama to be, we pick style 6012

Nicole Kidman - super tall and always super elegant. She tends to stick with light colors so, fitting for a golden statue, our pick is style 6010

Michelle Williams - she tends to always wear pale colors so, this Nude with Black overlay we think would look gorgeous on her - style 3137

Annette Bening - we read she likes simple gowns with jeweled necklines and we think this neckline would fit the bill! Style 6101